Anyone’s guess if trial will lay Dunn case to rest

It’s almost three years since the relocation of the Judge G.W. Dunn monument prompted a legal dispute between homeowners and a Dunn descendant. (File photo)

By David Knopf/Richmond News

More than two months after the attorneys in the Judge D.W. Dunn case reached what a present-day judge referred to as an impasse, the legal process continues to creep toward a scheduled bench trial.

If all goes as planned – as a case file note in Associate Circuit Judge James Thompson’s handwriting says it will – attorneys in the relocated Dunn monument case will be in court at 9 a.m. Sept. 27 for a bench trial.

“Leave this set for hearing Sept. 27,” the note says.

But the oft-delayed, oft-continued case, now almost three years old, has seen detours before, so stay tuned.

Beginning Aug. 7, a legal notice appeared in the Lawson Review four times informing any “heirs, successors, and assigns” of Judge Dunn or his wife Susan of a court action “the object and general nature of which involves the relocation of the Judge George Washington Dunn Memorial Monument.”

Those with an interest in the case were told they had 45 days from Aug. 7 to either file a notice or claim or appear in court to “defend against the aforesaid petition.”

The notice provided contact information for attorney Kelly Rose of Odessa, who now represents Richmond homeowners Mark and Amada Guy.

Rose has since filed a motion to dismiss any challenges, which would allow the court’s original finding to become final.

The petition in question is one the Guys filed in 2010 requesting permission to relocate the 6,900-pound monument located in their backyard. Thompson approved the request, giving the homeowners permission to move the monument 12 yards to a rear fence line.